3-alarm fire guts north-end Longboat residence

A structure fire destroyed the interior of a three-story duplex on Lands End Drive on Monday morning. The one occupant at the time escaped unharmed.

By S.T. Cardinal
| 1:58 p.m. February 23, 2026

Firefighters break a hole in the roof of a building minutes after first responders extinguished the flames that engulfed a three-story residence devastated by what is reported as a potential electrical fire Monday, Feb. 23.

Longboat Key
News

A three-alarm fire that brought first responders from Longboat Key and adjoining communities in Sarasota and Manatee counties destroyed two adjoining north-end villas in the Land’s End community on Monday.

Longboat Key Fire Chief Paul Dezzi said a housekeeper working inside first noticed a fire in electrical outlet at the residence in the 600 block of Lands End Drive around 10 a.m., and got out of the home safely. No injuries were reported, and no one else was in the three-story building that comprises two separate living units.

“No firefighters were injured, and it didn’t extend from this major structure to another,’’ Dezzi said. “The unfortunate part is both homes are completely destroyed.’’

A three-alarm fire in Longboat Key's Lands End community destroyed two living units of a three-story building on Feb. 23.

Property records indicate the building is owned by a New Hampshire couple, who bought the building in 2011.

Adrian Griffin who works nearby and lives down the street from the building said she was alerted to the fire after noticing multiple emergency vehicles pass her work with sirens blaring. She returned to her neighborhood to see smoke billowing out of the roof of the building, spiraling out as wind consistently blew.

A housekeeper inside the building in the Lands End community of Longboat Key noticed fire in an electrical outlet and called 911. The two residences of the building were destroyed, fire authorities said.

Don Sensabaugh lives next door in a similar duplex and said he was alerted to the fire by his neighbor who told him he noticed smoke. He walked outside to let the fire department through the gates at about 10 a.m. Sensabaugh said he saw the fire department break the door down to gain entrance to the building. A ladder truck was deployed to give firefighters access to the roof where they cut holes with chainsaws to allow heat to escape the structure.

“Heat rises, and we saw smoke coming off the eaves of the structure. So once it was a safe environment, we asked the truck company to go up on the roof and cut a hole, what we cal a trench cut, to expose the rafters and wood and what have you so we could go ahead and put the fire out,” Dezzi said.

The fire started a little before 10 a.m. and was extinguished at about noon.

Dezzi said the town’s fire marshal would examine the building to try to determine a cause of the fire.

author

S.T. Cardinal

S.T. "Tommy" Cardinal is the Longboat Key news reporter. The Sarasota native earned a degree from the University of Central Florida in Orlando with a minor in environmental studies. In Central Florida, Cardinal worked for a monthly newspaper covering downtown Orlando and College Park. He then worked for a weekly newspaper in coastal South Carolina where he earned South Carolina Press Association awards for his local government news coverage and photography.